High Flyght – Chapter 25

I am outside my body all the way down to the front lobby, back through security, out the doors, and around the corner. My vision is like a darkened tunnel, and all I see is a sliver in front of me.

“Can you believe that bullshit?” Jinzo rants but his voice is a hundred kilometers away.

“She has a lot of nerve trying to interfere in our network,” Ken agrees. “You have every right to be angry. That was uncalled for.”

I count to ten. One, two… How many steps have I gone from the building? Five, six… Not far enough. Nine. Ten.

“Vivian?” Ken asks.

My knees melt, and my hands hit the pavement with a bone-cracking smack. I lean forward and lay my lips on the sidewalk.

“Is she okay?” The voice of a random stranger calls out.

“She’ll be all right!” Ken responds.

I rest my forehead on the sidewalk for a moment. I’m alive.

Ken’s arms are around my chest. “I felt that surge of dread right before you collapsed. Sorry I wasn’t fast enough.”

No worries, guys. I can stay right where I am all day, as long as I’m alive.

Ken and Jinzo help me up, and I need a moment to steady my legs. They’re like gelatin on a hot day.

“We’re alive.” I wipe the tears from my face. “And she doesn’t know about the data we have.”

I take a deep breath and let it out. Holding the two tons of anxiety inside was stressful and tiring, and now I’m beat. I really thought that was the end of us.

“I need a drink.” I squint my eyes into the late morning sun and scan the street.

“Viv, it’s barely noon,” Jinzo says, steadying me at the waist. “Do you want to go to the town hall?”

I shake my head. “No. I want to take care of Cressida before going that far.” I take his hand in mine. “And I’d rather sign the contracts on Ossun, where my family has always gone.”

Jinzo softens. “Okay. I want you to meet my family anyway.”

Ken steps in. “I’d like to meet your family too.”

I bet he does. Having allies in Lee Shipyards would be advantageous for Flyght.

“Everyone is welcome at the shipyards.” Jinzo laughs before squeezing my shoulders. “But you still look pale. Maybe we should go sit down for a bit. We don’t have our Flyght meeting until much later.”

Ken identifies a place down the street that has outdoor seating, a bar, and a menu of appetizers. Perfect. We sit out back under the canopy, and I take a deep breath that cleanses me to my toes. The meeting with Renata Dellis is over, and I survived, but that doesn’t mean I’m in the clear. It’s just one thing out of many trying to kill me lately.

But now I can enjoy a modicum of peace. I can sit and breathe. I can enjoy a drink with Ken and Jinzo and try to relax.

A waiter brings drinks to our table — a glass of white wine for me and beers for the guys — and his eyes linger on my face a little too long for my comfort.

“Thanks,” I say to him, leaning forward to grab my wine glass.

Jinzo and Ken both eye the young man as he backs away from the table. He looks at us again before hustling into the restaurant.

“Nobody drink anything.” Ken pushes the beer away from him. I was about to lift the glass of wine to my lips, but I set it back on the table.

“That guy is acting strange.” Jinzo turns to look into the restaurant. “What do you think is his problem?”

The door opens again, and I scramble to my feet. Mr. Sumo and Mr. Tattoo emerge into the open space, making the expansive sitting area suddenly feel like a cottage porch. My body revs back up into fight-or-flight mode, though this time the adrenaline is enough to make me sway.

Ken and Jinzo are on their feet before the two men can approach me.

“What now?” I throw my hands up into the air. “Huh? I just came from your boss’s office. We talked. I don’t know where my brother is. I may never know where he is.”

Mr. Sumo smiles, and the expression looks wrong on his pockmarked face. Men like him shouldn’t smile. “Ms. Dellis wanted us to remind you that her business comes first.”

I fold my arms across my chest.

“When she asks you to take a job offer, she means for you to take it.” He leans into the statement. “And we’re here to make sure you take it.”

“I don’t want it.” I stress each word, so they know how serious I am. “And you can go back to Ms. Dellis and tell her the same thing I said to her myself only thirty minutes ago. I’m grateful for her offer, but I already have a job, and that’s buying back my farm.”

“You know, Ms. Dellis can solve a lot of your problems if you just say yes.”

“Of course she can. Because a lot of my problems are because of Ms. Dellis.”

Mr. Tattoo glances over his shoulder to the restaurant. Shit. Is he expecting backup? Did we just get away with our lives only to be cornered a few moments later?

“The offer will remain open until you say yes. And Ms. Dellis is sure you’ll say yes.”

They both turn to leave.

“Tell Ms. Dellis that the answer is no and will continue to be no for…”

My lips grind to a halt as I catch a display in the restaurant over their heads as they lumber through the dining tables and towards the front door.

“Oh my God,” Jinzo whispers, pulling up next to me as we follow into the dining room. On the screen, Cenobia Senna Snow sits in a posh living area across from Cressida and India Dellis. My eyes flicker to the two men leaving, and Mr. Tattoo throws a sly smirk over his shoulder to me, like a soldier tossing a grenade into enemy territory as he runs from the battle.

Mother fucker.

“I’m sorry to hear about what you’ve been through these last few weeks, Cressida. You must be heartsick over your loss.”

Cressida dabs a tissue at her ersatz tears, and my jaw tightens. “I am. I’ve never had a man stolen from my network before. It’s insidious. She swooped right in and took him from my arms.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake!” Jinzo yells at the newscast. Several heads in the restaurant turn. “I left you! Because you treated me like shit!”

I cover my face with one hand and squeeze Jinzo’s arm with my other.

“It’s true,” India Dellis says, butting in to back up Cressida. “Vivian Kawabata needs men like Jinzo Lee to help buy back her family’s assets. But she’s never been anybody of importance until now. She must have him under some kind of spell or something. There’s no way he would voluntarily leave an upstanding and beautiful woman like Cressida for her.”

“Let’s get out of here,” I whisper from behind my hand.

“Wait,” Ken says, urging me to stay.

Cenobia laughs and shakes her head. “I have heard nothing good about Vivian Kawabata, so this doesn’t surprise me at all.”

I begin to shrink like I’ve eaten something in Wonderland.

“We have definite plans to deal with her,” India states with a nod. “Her family’s estate goes up for auction soon, and I’ll be at the front of the line to bid on it. No one messes with my friends or family and gets away with it.”

“You don’t say?” Cenobia’s voice is thick, clogged up with fake concern. “What if she’s watching right now and hears this?”

India shrugs. “What can I say? It doesn’t matter. She’ll find out one way or another.”

“All I care about is Jinzo coming back to me.” Cressida sobs a little more.

“Jesus. Lay it on thick, woman,” some man from the back of the restaurant calls out.

I’m not the only one who can tell Cressida is lying.

“That Cressida is a piece of work,” Ken says, walking away from the screen. “It’s a good thing no one really believes her.”

“Some people seem to. Where are you going?” I follow him to the back of the restaurant, and on the way, I’m dismayed to see people putting their datapads and wristlets away and avoiding eye contact. Our reactions to the news will be news themselves in a matter of minutes.

“We’re going out the back.”

We bypass our table, the glasses sweating in the late morning Palo Alto heat, and open the garden gate. Once we’re through, Ken stops and looks at us both.

“Something needs to be done about that.”

“I ignored her for a while, but I’ve sent her enough messages to get the point.” Jinzo’s angry, and it’s a sad sight to see when I’m so used to his loving and caring side. “Our contract is long expired, and I’ve been upfront from the very start. There’s just no getting through to her.”

“There has to be. She wouldn’t be doing this if there wasn’t something she wanted.” Ken pauses to think. “It’s time we fought fire with fire. If Senna Snow will interview them, then she’ll interview us.”

“No!” I bring my hands up to prayer position. “Please. I can’t do it.” I draw in a shaky breath. “I can’t. They’ve said the most ruthless and awful things about me. How can I?”

“Vivian, none of that stuff is true,” Jinzo says, trying to soothe me. “Maybe Ken is right. Maybe we should show them what an amazing woman you are.”

I shake my head. “No way. Not happening.”

Ken looks to Jinzo. “I’ll speak with Marcelo. He’ll know what to do.”

“No, no, no. We should ignore them. The more we play into their game, the harder it will be to extract ourselves from this mess when the time comes. Did you not hear her in there? India Dellis is going to buy my family farm out from under me!” My voice squeaks and dries out. “That’s it. It’s over for me.”

Tatiana Álvares from First Ossun Bank said that if I hadn’t paid the mortgage, everything would go up for auction. So I had planned to pay the mortgage! That’s what I’ve been working towards! But with the possibility of even more money from higher bidders like India Dellis, the bank could easily ignore me. And they will. They don’t owe me anything. All I have is one woman’s word that I have first dibs to buy my own land back. No contracts. Nothing that would hold up in court.

Fuck. “It’s over for me,” I repeat, my voice barely a whisper.

“It’s not over,” Jinzo insists. “We’ll fix the situation with Cressida, and we’ll have plenty of money to outbid India when the time comes. Don’t give up now.”

I turn away from Ken and Jinzo and try to collect myself. Plenty of money? Is he serious? I’ll be broke in a matter of days, I can feel it. And no one is going to outbid the Dellis family. No one.

I’m tired of all of this. Why can’t things be easier?

The universe is always listening to me, I swear, because my wristlet buzzes, and it’s a priority message from Skylar.

“Skylar, what’s up?” I ask. Ken and Jinzo halt their hushed conversation. “If you’re calling about the OEN thing…”

“Get here quickly. We’ve got a situation. Ai is melting down. Literally.”

I look up and down the alleyway we’re in. A busy street is at one end with autocabs zipping by.

“We’ll be right there.”